Simple Brinjal/Eggplant Fry as snack or side dish!

This post is about a very easy and quick snack which is eggplant (or brinjal) fry. This recipe has it all. Really really easy to prepare, a handful of ingredients and the tastiest result! What more could we ask? It can even be had as a side dish with rice and daal/rajma.chole. It adds just the right amount of spicy-ness. Here is the recipe -

Recipe customized from VahReVah.com

Ingredients

1 large Eggplant/Brinjal
For dry marinade:
1 1/2 Tsp Turmeric powder
2 Tsp Red Chilly Powder
Salt to taste
3 Tsp Rice Flour

Steps

• Prepare a dry marinade by mixing all ingredients mentioned under 'For dry marinade' above. No need to add any water or oil
• Cut the eggplant into thin round slices
• Spread the dry marinade onto a plate with your hands. Now coat each eggplant slice on both sides with this. Since the eggplant has its own natural moisture, this will help the dry marinade to stick on both sides. Keep placing coated eggplant slices in a separate plate (to be fried at once)
• In a wide low saucepan, pour about 2 tbsp oil, spread evenly and place as many eggplant slices as will fit. Fry each side for about 3 minutes or till done
• Remove onto a wide plate with tissue paper. This helps remove excess oil

Thats it! So simple and quick. Plus eggplants are so easy to cut into slices. It is not required to peel them, but if you would rather peel them, then do go ahead. It tastes good any which way!

Vellarikka Vanpayaru Erissery Recipe

Vanpayaru erissery is my Mom's specialty. I guess, for me, nobody does it better. I remember getting excited and drooling on the days my mother was preparing this in kitchen. This curry has that quintessential Malayali taste, of coconut. And this is one taste I and my husband just love! This curry is perfect for a regular lunch meal or even a Sadhya (Kerala feast).
My mother almost always made this with Mathanga (or pumpkin). But, I tried this with Vellarikka (cucumber) and it came out just as good. Folks who want the sweet taste of pumpkin can just replace the cucumber in this recipe with pumpkin.
We usually eat this with cabbage thoran or kaya-chena mezhukkuperutti and rice. It always reminds me of home!

Here is the recipe-

Ingredients
1 whole Vellarikka (cucumber), cubed
1 cup Vanpayaru (red cow peas)
1/2 an onion, roughly chopped
3 long green chillies
1 cup grated coconut
1/2 Tsp Cumin seeds
1 Tsp Mustard seeds
3 or 4 dry red chillies
Curry leaves to season
1 Tsp turmeric powder (manjal podi)
1 Tsp red chilly powder (mulagu podi)
1/2 Tsp pepper
1/2 Tsp coriander powder (malli podi)
 Salt to taste
About 1 Tbsp oil

Steps

• Pressure cook the Vanpayaru (red cow peas) with turmeric powder, red chilly powder and 3 times water for about 10 whistles (One way to reduce the cooking time and water is to pre-soak the peas with salt for about 5 - 6 hours)
• Now, open the cooker, add the Vellarikka (cucumber pieces) and some salt and pressure cook again for about 4 whistles. Once done, open cooker. If the peas and cucumber look very well cooked, this step is done
• Next, grind together 1/2 cup grated coconut, green chillies, cumin seeds and chopped onion till we get a fine paste. The consistency is that of the coconut chutney made for dosa (not runny)
• Add this paste into the cooker with the cooked payaru (peas) and cucumber and let the curry so far slowly come to boil
• In a separate saucepan, spurt mustard seeds in the oil, roast the dry red chillies, lower the flame and add the remaining 1/2 cup grated coconut, pepper and coriander powder. Let the mixture roast on low flame till the coconut changes to brown colour
• Then, add this mixture into the boiling curry, lower flame, let simmer cook for about 1 minute
• Remove from heat and add curry leaves to season

Erissery is ready. Now all you need is some hot rice and pappad. Go a step ahead and have this with a Kerala dry side dish. It should pretty much be your best lunch ever!

Long Cucumber/Kakkarikka Pachadi

This one I learnt from my mother-in-law. Some days when she makes Sambar and Mezhukkuperatti (Kerala dry side dish usually made with Ghee), she also makes this simple pachadi.
Pachadi is an authentic Kerala side dish with a gravy made of coconut and yogurt. We can put the vegetable of our choice, and in this one we only put cucumber. We can literally prepare this in 20 minutes. So if you're planning on bringing up a Kerala feast and want a curry to go well with Sambar, believe you me, this is the one. It has a very fresh, crunchy taste.

Here goes-
Serves 4 - 5

Ingredients

1/2 of a long cucumber
2/3 cup grated coconut
2/3 cup of yogurt
3 green chillies
1 Tsp cumin seeds
1/2 Tsp pepper
3 dry red chillies
1 Tsp Mustard seeds
1 Tbsp oil
Some curry leaves
Some Salt to taste

Steps

• Cut the cucumber into small pieces
• In a blender, add grated coconut, yogurt, green chillies, cumin seeds, pepper and salt. Blend into a fine paste
•  Add the above paste to the cucumber and mix well
• In a saucepan, roast the the mustard seeds and dry red chillies in oil. Add the curry leaves. 
• Add the cucumber-coconut-yogurt gravy to this and heat on low flame for about 5-8 minutes

Cucumber Pachadi is ready. See, how easy and quickly this can be made. Those days of the week when I prepare sambar and some Thoran/Mezhukkuperutti, if I have cucumber in the fridge I make this curry. The taste of yogurt and the crunch of fresh cucumber is a perfect counter-balance for Sambar-rice. Top this with Pappadams and you're good to go!

Tangy Tomato Rice - Ready in half an Hour!

 
When I hear about tomato rice, I remember my school days. One of my Tamilian friends used to bring this frequently for lunch and we all used to lunge at it! Poor girl! But that is the thing with such types of rice preparations, be it tomato rice, lemon rice or spinach pulao. They are spicy and so fun to eat. They are also pretty filling I would say. No side dish needed for these if you ask me. Just get your plate-full and attack! Oh, and did I mention these are super easy to cook? Yep, it just takes 30 minutes to get this on your dining table. Lets get cracking!

Recipe customized from VahreVah.com

Ingredients

2 cups White Rice (such as Basmati/Sona Masoori)
2 large Tomatoes, chopped
Half an Onion, chopped
3 Green Chillies, chopped
1 Tsp Ginger Paste (or finely chopped ginger)
1 Tsp Cumin Seeds
1 Tsp Mustard Seeds
About 2 tbsps Chana Daal (optional)
About 2 tbsps chopped Cashew nuts
1 Tsp Urad daal (optional)
2-3 red chillies
1/2 Tsp Red Chilly Powder
1/2 Tsp Garam Masala
Salt to taste
Asafoetida (or Heeng) to taste
Curry Leaves and Coriander Leaves for seasoning

Steps

• Cook the rice (Microwave method - Add 4 cups of water and microwave for approximately 15 minutes)
• In a wide enough saucepan, heat oil and spurt mustard seeds then cumin seeds
• Add the red chillies, chana daal and urad daal. Saute till they slightly change colour
• Reduce heat to low and add the cashewnuts and roast till they are light brown
• Add the curry leaves, ginger paste, green chillies and onions and saute till onions are slightly cooked (not completely, as tomato rice needs to have a bit crunchy onion slices)
• Now, add the chopped tomatoes, sprinkle salt and asafoetida, stir well and close the lid. Let cook for about 5 minutes
• Open lid and add the chilly powder and garam masala. Again close lid and cook till the tomatoes are mushy and start leaving water.
• If tomato masala is cooked well, we can add the rice. Mix the rice in well
• Finally, season the top with coriander leaves and stir lightly

These steps took just 30 minutes for me overall. Supper was ready in a jiffy with no toiling in the kitchen at all. Perfect for those days when you know you are not upto being a "chef" in your kitchen but you (or your husband!) is craving something spicy!!

Kerala Kadala Curry

Kerala kadala curry is black chickpeas cooked in authentic Kerala style. Its no surprise that Malayalees love coconuts. We come from the land of coconuts! That is why we like some curries with the taste of coconut mixed with pepper and coriander powder. Hence this way of cooking chickpeas involves a coconut milk based gravy, spiced up with pepper and coriander powder.
I made this for a breakfast get-together with our friends here with Vellayappams. The North Indians among them liked it as well!

Here goes -

Ingredients

Pressure cooking chickpeas:
2 cups kadala (black chickpeas)
2 Tsp Turmeric powder
2 Tsp Red chilly powder
Gravy:
Coconut Milk - 1/2 cup
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
5 green chillies, chopped
1 Tsp ginger paste
1 Tsp garlic paste
1 Tsp Turmeric powder
1 Tsp Red chilly powder
1 Tbsp coriander powder
2 Tsp ground pepper
Salt to taste
1/2 Tsp cinnamon
some curry leaves
3 Tbsp oil
Coconut paste:
3/4 cup scraped coconut
1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves
2 cardomom pods
1 Tsp ground pepper
1 Tsp coriander powder

• Soak kadala (black chickpeas) overnight in some salted water
• Pressure cook kadala with enough water and spices under 'Pressure cooking chickpeas', till about 7 whistles. Set aside.
• Heat a tablespoon of oil in a saucepan and roast cloves, cardomom and chopped onion mentioned under 'Coconut paste'
• After color of onions changes, add coconut. Once coconut is roasted to a light brown, add spices mentioned here, roast for some more minutes and set aside to cool.
• In same saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and spurt mustard seeds. Add chopped onions. When it starts to change colour, add ginger-garlic paste and chopped green chillies
• When the above is cooked, add chopped tomatoes. Then add the spices mentioned under 'gravy'
• When tomatoes are tender, add the cooked chickpeas along with the water. Let this come to boil on low heat
• Mean while, grind the roasted coconut mixture to a fine paste adding very minimum water
• Add this paste and the coconut milk to the kadala gravy and let this boil for about 2 minutes
• Season with curry leaves

Kerala kadala curry is ready! This delicious and spicy gravy is best had with appams, puttu or noolappam. Yummy!

Very Quick and Easy Chole Recipe

This is my quickest chole recipe yet. I use just one vessel which is my pressure cooker for the whole cooking process. And it all comes together in around 30 minutes! It is slightly like the Punjabi way of making chole or rajma, where all the indgredients are put into the pressure cooker with the ghee and just simply cooked for some number of whistles. I make a slight variation as in frying the veggies slightly in the pressure cooker itself and then adding the soaked chana and pressure cooking everything together (If you are not comfortable about using just your pressure cooker for the tadka part, you could do it in a sauce pan, taking care not to fry as much as we usually do. Then simply add the half-done tadka along with the chana in pressure cooker before cooking. 
I find this way of making very easy, quick and double as flavor-full because of cooking everything together in a closed way (pressure cooking). I urge you to try this quick method!

Total Cooking Time: 30 minutes (does not include time for soaking chana)

Ingredients

2 cups of white chana/white chickpeas
1 large onion (or 2 medium)
1 large tomato (or 2 medium)
1 Tbsp of ginger paste
1 Tbsp of garlic paste
4 or 5 green chillies
1 Tsp cumin seeds2 Tbsp of oil
1 Tbsp of curd
Some coriander leaves for seasoning
Ground spices:
1 Tsp of turmeric powder
1 Tsp of Red chilly powder
2 Tsp of Garam masala
1 Tsp of coriander powder  
Salt to taste 

Steps

• Soak the chana in some salted warm water for at least 6 hours
• Finely chop onions, tomatoes and green chillies
• In your pressure cooker itself, add the oil and saute cumin seeds. Then add the onions and once they caramelize slightly (not much, since we are going to pressure cook everything with the Chana anyway), add the ginger-garlic paste and green chillies
• Once the raw smell is gone from the above, add the tomatoes and all the ground spices and saute till the tomatoes are slightly tender
• Add the soaked chana (straining out the water used for soaking first), then add sufficient water so that it comes to about 2 inches above the level of the chana. 
• Add 1 Tsp of ghee. Stir this in well. Close the cooker with weight. Pressure cook on medium high till about 6 - 7 whistles
• After opening, add about 1 Tbsp of curd and the coriander leaves, stir and let boil for about 2 minutes

 The chole are now ready to serve! Serve this hot with some rotis, pooris or even rice and sabzi. Its superbly homely and a real comfort food!

Banana Crumb Muffins for Breakfast!

 
Muffins, muffins and more muffins! This is my latest mantra. I just love muffins and quick breads. They just make your breakfast meal that much more special. Muffins especially. Fluffy and moist, these go perfectly well with your morning coffee or milk. They just make you feel so good all morning! Here is my banana muffin recipe.

This recipe cistomized from www.tasteandflavours.com

Ingredients 

2 cups of All Purpose flour
1 cup of packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 Tsp baking powder
1 Tsp baking soda
1/2 Tsp salt
6 Tbsp sour cream
2 Tsp vanilla extract
4 medium/3 large ripe bananas mashed

Crumb topping (optional):
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp AP flour
1/8 Tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp cold butter (I used a butter substitute)

Steps

• Pre-heat oven to 350 F (176 C) and line a 12-cup muffin tray with paper liner/or grease each cup.
•  Whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda, and the salt and set that aside
• Secondly, to the mashed bananas just add the 1 cup of brown sugar, vegetable oil and the egg and whisk until well combined
• Add the vanilla and sour cream and give the wet batter a good whisk till well combined
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold the dry stuff into batter. TRY NOT TO OVER_MIX the batter. Just use a flat spoon/spatula/ladle and simply ensure there are no obvious dry flour. The batter should be a bit lumpy and thick.
• Fill each cup of muffin tray with the batter until 3/4th way full.
• Crumb topping (optional) - Mix the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon (mentioned under crumb topping). Now add the cold butter and mix into this (either with hands or fork) until a coarse texture is obtained. Sprinkle evenly on the batter in each muffin cup.
• Bake this for about 25 mintues. Toothpick inserted must come out clean  

Note - I was able to make about 16 muffins with these measurements.So if you have a 12-cup muffin tray, while the 12 muffins are baking, you could set aside the remaining batter, covered. Just bake them after these 12 are done. Trust me they will turn out fine as well!
 
An awesome way to start your day. A muffin and a glass of fruit shake. Wow!
Give my blueberry muffins a peek as well!!